What it Really Takes to be a Hero
by ArthurZ42
Summary: A knight of RuneScape provides an instructional journal for future heroes.


Excerpt from the book _What it really takes to be a hero_, by Arthur, Knight Templar of the Realms:

_Being a hero isn't everything the story books make it out to be _I thought, as I cleaned the grime off Silverlight, the magical blade used to banish a demon. I thought back to my childhood, when my father would read to me about knights and champions. All my life, I wanted to be someone who would save kingdoms, rescue princesses, and be remembered as a great hero.

Now I had my chance. I had passed the tests of Wisdom, Strength, and Faith, and was entrusted to wield Silverlight against the demon. _Of course, they couldn't just give me the sword, _I thought with a smile. _First I have to prove myself worthy to fight the demon? Seriously? _I remember standing inches away from a bottomless pit during the Test of Faith and thinking, _You never read about this kind of thing in the story books. How many people missed this step? You never get to hear their stories._

But all that was in the past. The demon was defeated, and I was finally a hero. The magical talisman given to me by my mentor, Gudrik, was flashing again, which meant that the old dwarf wanted to talk to me. _He probably wants to congratulate me for completing my quest. Maybe they'll have a festival for me! _But Gudrik didn't want to congratulate me. He had another quest for me. I remember Gudrik saying that my last quest was a test to see if I was ready for the real thing. He wasn't kidding. Gudrik wanted me to go to the island of Ashdale, where people were disappearing, and figure out what was going on. _No problem, _I thought. With my new magic sword I felt invincible. Maybe I should have read more books about heroes when I was younger.

The ship voyage to Ashdale was mostly uneventful. Real heroes don't ever get seasick, so we're just going to skip past that part of the story. Apparently the residents of Ashdale put up barricades to stop some sea monsters from getting to their town. By the lack of people around, it didn't work. Of course, the barricades kept _me_ from getting around, so I had to travel through the sewers. How heroic is that? No book ever mentioned a hero having to travel through a sewer to rescue a princess! No book ever mentioned the _smell _that I had to endure. If I ever write my own book, I think I'll leave that part out, too.

After much searching, I found some secret caves beneath Ashdale. From the journals I found I learned that smugglers were using the caves as a base, but that they found these weird creatures that were part man, part crab, and part squid. The journal mentioned that the smugglers set up traps in case anyone found their hideout. I entered the caves and found some of these creatures. With the magic of Silverlight and my amazing skill with a sword, I defeated them. I'd like to say that they were no match for me, but honestly, it was close.

That's when I saw the _bigger _version of the creatures. I knew that there was no way I could beat these creatures, so I led them into the traps that I read about in the smuggler's journal. _Now that's what a real hero would do_ I thought, as the last of the creatures was impaled by a spear trap. Near the creatures were these strange green pods. I really believe there were people inside of them. To this day, those pods would be the cause of many nightmares – if heroes ever had nightmares, I mean.

Eventually I found a ship. On the other side of the ship, I could see the missing villagers of Ashdale, or most of them anyway. When I boarded the ship a HUGE version of the weird crab/squid people burst up through the middle of the ship! It's tentacles were half as long as the ship, and I'm not ashamed to admit that they HURT when I was bludgeoned with them. I think the only reason I won that fight is the protection spell that I learned from the temple. I rescued the prisoners and led them back to town (although none of the prisoners was a princess).

So that's how I saved the town of Ashdale and became a real hero. I even got a festival for saving the town. Of course, Gudrik said that my victory at Ashdale meant that I was ready for yet another quest. There should be some kind of book or manual about how to be a hero. One day, I'm going to write my own book, and explain to everyone what it really takes to be a hero.

- Arthur


End file.
